Es werde Licht! und es ward Licht.



First light in the half bath is in. Yesterday was pretty busy between taking care of small areas that needed wallpaper due to the ceiling being uneven, getting the pendant lights for the 1/2 bath in the mail, samples arriving, and putting in blocking, wiring, and boxes to put in the new lights. The other two pendant lights would also be in except I can't install them before the ceiling drywall is back, which also requires insulation and by 8:30 I wanted nothing to do with any of that.

I'm not too worried about how the drywall ends up looking anywhere since I'm putting in tongue and groove paneling on the ceiling like the family room has, and the walls will have the other paneling that I mentioned earlier. That should save a little time and frustration.

The marble sample is in and both of us think we have a winner for the bathroom walls. If the drain will get here it looks like I'll have a pretty busy weekend putting everything in. The milestone I'm working towards getting walls and plumbing complete and putting down Ditra.

Progressing nicely!

Are you using Ditra on the shower floor and then Kerdi on shower walls?

I like the tile. We've actually looked at that same white oak for our shower walls.

Close - Ditra is our decoupling membrane between the 2nd layer of plywood and flooring. In the shower it's being installed on top of Kerdi and a mud bed that I can do once the shower drain gets here.

I'm hoping the marble stays the top choice after the other sample or two arrive - it has free shipping as best as I can tell. I added a few hundred sq ft of it to the cart, hit calculate shipping and it didn't add anything so...

Got ya.

I haven't considered using Ditra but I'm not sure I'd need to with a slab vs p&b. You're making me thing twice about it now though.

As long as the slab is in good condition I wouldn't bother. None of the tile I've pulled up from a slab ever had any issues besides appearance and being worn out. Ditra wouldn't have helped with any of that.

It was a pretty busy weekend despite the nasty heat and the half bath is nearly ready for tile. In a nutshell, it's all there except for a replacement pendant light (one arrived defective), adding a 3" overhead light that I already prewired for, and basic drywall seam work. It's a little annoying because it was a ton of work dealing with everything that goes on inside the walls, hanging drywall in a tight area and installing a wall mounted toilet for very little visual reward. It's fully functional now so technically we have a 1/2 bath again. The toilet is very quiet and isn't really heard outside of the bathroom.





The last of the samples came in and we've decided what flooring and wall material we like so my job is to figure out exactly how much to order and get that moving. For the half bath we're going with stacked 4x18 subway tile except for the vanity area where we found a mostly blue mosaic that we like, and the same flooring as the full bath.

The Kerdi drain came in so I can wrap up the last of the drain work this week. That, and just a little drywall in the bathroom are all that's left to do in there before everything gets kicked out so I can put in Ditra.

Just caught up on this great work.

On the surface it's a minor update, but all the behind the scenes work took ages to finish.

All tile and stone are now ordered. Since this is large profile stuff I didn't want to use the area + 10% extra rule of thumb for ordering. That meant I had to put together 2D views from all directions and of the floor to figure out how much of everything is really needed and then add 10% to that. That's six walls in the master bathroom plus the niche area, four in the half bath and superimposing a 20x20 grid over the overhead view. It was worth the trouble since I wouldn't have underordered with the original estimate, but it would have been too close.

Also the 1/2 bath vanity is in. We're going with one that's floating so it more or less looks like a shelf running the width of the room. It's pretty easy to install if you get lucky and have studs on the left/right side exactly where you need them and I attached everything directly to those. The hard part is that if it runs straight across the room there will either not be enough room for the sink, or it'll make using the toilet a bit of a challenge. It all comes down to about 3" difference from one end to the other. To make it up I ended up cutting a 2x4 lengthwise and making shims where the space needed was more than 1.5". It was every bit as fun as it sounds, there's no good way to cut 2x4s lengthwise without a band saw or a bigger table saw than what I have.

After work I'm wrapping up the drywall in here and focusing on the bedroom; there's nothing more to do than tile and countertops.

Looks like it is going to be a hell of a nice magazine rack.

I guess once it's in one piece it might be but for now the room is barely usable. This mosaic really needs to get here so we can figure out a color for the countertop and get that measured/in work along with the tub deck. Some shade of blue/grey would be ideal but we can't tell for sure until later. No wall tile can be installed before it comes in - it will have to be ordered just a bit narrower than the wall to wall length before tile in order to be turned and put in place.

And of course tile holds up installing paneling in the ceiling so there's that too...

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I guess once it's in one piece it might be but for now the room is barely usable. This mosaic really needs to get here so we can figure out a color for the countertop and get that measured/in work along with the tub deck. Some shade of blue/grey would be ideal but we can't tell for sure until later. No wall tile can be installed before it comes in - it will have to be ordered just a bit narrower than the wall to wall length before tile in order to be turned and put in place.

And of course tile holds up installing paneling in the ceiling so there's that too...

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Chicken...Egg...ERGHHHHH!

Yup, and on top of it the flooring is the last material to ship but of course first to go in. It ships somewhere around the 19th... I should be able to have the area ready for it first at least. The number of things to do that don't involve stone or tile are getting pretty low in all three areas. The only reason the 1/2 bath isn't there already is because I ran out of drywall tape yesterday. The full bath still needs more drywall to go in, tools and stuff to go out, and I need to figure out how to connect the floor heating element with its switch.

Materials are starting to come in, but they've been arriving in the reverse order that they're needed. Everything I need for the walls is here but I can't do anything with it because the flooring won't get here until the 18th. For the time being the gameplan is to be ready to put it in when it arrives so anything drywall or related to clearing all the crap off the floor is top priority.

One of the speed bumps for finishing the half bath is the countertop. Unless quartz has become suddenly flexible, there's no way the wall tile can be in before the countertop without the countertop being installed in multiple pieces. Tomorrow we're going to pick out a color and get that moving and hopefully get someone out to measure the piece for the tub surround since that might also slow things down.

I've also been working on cleaning up the vanity that was in the master bathroom for resale. I'm hoping we can get $500 or so for it. I wanted to refinish the top with spar varnish, but someone decided to dye her hair and got pink dye on it so I painted the top black instead. It turned out pretty well. The thing is actually usable but about a 180 from our style and wasn't converted very well to begin with. If you like the look it's really better to just get something new that resembles furniture than to convert an antique because they hacked up a lot of the framework to fit the plumbing and sinks.

Pics to come later today...

Here are the pictures I promised yesterday. The old vanity cleaned up pretty well IMO. Hopefully it sells quickly, I told Mrs. Fife to price at $600, take $500. It'll be nice to have the space back one it's gone. The mirror isn't an antique apparently - somehow they were able to find something new that was a close match. If anyone knows what style this is I'm all ears, the Craigslist post hasn't been written yet. It's not arts and crafts or art deco, probably not Victorian, ... what is it? I'm guessing 100-120 years old?





The floor tile shipped yesterday and right now it's in MD somewhere so this could get to us on the early end of their estimated arrival date. Getting Ditra in has become just a little more important now. This afternoon we're going to a granite place to pick out countertop material for all areas. Here's the mosaic tile we're working with. It's a larger profile than it looks, the piece is about 18' wide (picture is rotated 90 degrees and PB is not cooperating with correcting that). Hopefully it's nice enough to be on the 'timeless' side of things :p Since the shapes play nicely with the scale of the wall tile and the color is on the neutral side I think we'll be ok.

Over the last few days I've been working on all things tile and stone related because the flooring should be here today or tomorrow and I'd like to get going on that as soon as possible. That took a lot longer than I thought it would because of all the dust and debris accumulation everywhere, plus tools that migrated in and never left. I still managed to get the Ditra in along with most of the floor heating grid. As an added bonus the rooms are actually starting to look like what they're supposed to. The heating element is really easy to install FWIW. Putting the Ditra in was more trouble than anything else.

I'd like to start putting flooring in today or tomorrow, but I'm not quite sure how much I can install at one time because I do need to be able to get in and out of the area without walking on any of it. After I do a bunch of it on the first day where I can just hop over to where the hamper is going I might slow down to only 40" of forward progress per day.

Is the floor heating an electric system? I've heard some actually pass hot water through tubes to heat the floor. I'm kicking around whether or not to plan for this in our big master bath reno next year, so I'll be VERY curious to get your impressions as you go along.

This is electric - the heating element is just a bit smaller than telephone cable and fits perfectly between the nubs on Ditra Heat underlayment. Minimal extra work - it's been probably the easiest thing to install out of the whole project. I didn't even need to do much electrical work because I just used the circuit for the old jetted bathtub circuit for power. It's a good choice if you have to choose between the two since this will actually get used every day.

Sweet, that's what I thought. Mind saying about how much per square foot it's costing you? And how many amps does it pull?

We're kinda torn between tile and LVP. Pretty sure I can't run this under LVP, and man it would be nice when it's below 0 outside.

I went with Warmwire by Sun Touch as the heater and the controller with a touchscreen and wireless access. I needed to put some kind of decoupling membrane down anyway so I need to see how much more Ditra Heat costs over regular Ditra and use the difference to get a number. Not that much in the grand scheme of things though.

All the measurements and whatnot are at home so I'll have to check after work.

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Sweet, that's what I thought. Mind saying about how much per square foot it's costing you? And how many amps does it pull?

We're kinda torn between tile and LVP. Pretty sure I can't run this under LVP, and man it would be nice when it's below 0 outside.

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You can install it underneath any kind of flooring you want so long as the heater is embedded in thinset or self-leveling mortar. Since the product can't be cut the square footage is less than the total area to be tiled. In our case I ran out whatever cable was left over by carrying it over into the closet.

The cost breakdown
$421 - 120080WB-CST (80 sq ft @ 3" OC spacing, 120V/8A)
$115 in additional cost for Ditra (Ditra Heat underlayment costs a bit more, I needed about 160 sq ft total)
$225 - SunStat Connect (controller, there are cheaper options)

Inexpensive in the grand scheme of things considering that it will be used every day. We plan on staying indefinitely, but it would be a selling point if we moved.

All this waiting around has brought focus back to closet cabinets. We're probably going to go with Ikea on this one since we aren't totally sure what we need and if we do something built in it won't be very flexible if we'd like to change things later.

The one problem is that the nearest Ikea is in Charlotte and that's 3 hours away. There is a company that delivers to Charleston for $125, but we'll probably need to go in person to figure things out unless we can really get our act together with the PAX Planning tool online. Any advice about what components to get or avoid are totally welcome!

Yesterday I learned that if you want to keep Mrs. Fife entertained for hours on end, send her the link to the closet planning tool on IKEA's site. And if you want to keep the baby entertained for about the same amount of time, just stick him in the saucer and he'll bang around on that.

We'll probably make a trip to Charlotte to have a look at what we'd be getting in person, let Mrs. Fife make any small changes to the design and return with a list of things to order which we'll get through the local delivery company. That, and a bag or two of frozen meatballs. I miss those from the Renton IKEA. There's also a MCM furniture place over there I'd like to check out.

Floor tile should show up today. The master bathroom is about ready to go - the factory splice for the floor heater and sensor are embedded in the subfloor (pics later, it's hard to visualize but important to do) and all that's left to do is remove and reinstall just a bit of Ditra where there was a trapped air bubble underneath. I'm taking the day off work tomorrow and have a pretty good chance at getting this stuff done by the end of the weekend if quick drying thinset is available here and works as advertised.

Since we like juggling too many pieces at the same time the deposit has been made on the countertops/tub deck material and someone will be calling to measure for the deck and half bath vanity soon since they're ready to go.

I don't know if you are planning on putting fronts on your Ikea for you closet, but if you are, take a look at SemiHandmade doors. I decided to use them as a test in our kitchen and I am very pleased with their quality. They are every bit as good as veneered fronts from a cabinet shop.

Fronts would look great, but unfortunately our closet is not wide enough so that they wouldn't get in the way. This has been a challenging space to redesign from the start.

Things are moving forward pretty quickly. Someone will be out on Monday to measure for the half bath vanity and tub deck. Their ECD for making everything is only about 2 weeks since we are using remnant material and nothing has to be ordered. Last time I want to say it was 2-3x that since they had to order slabs.

Yesterday I took the day off work so I could get moving on the flooring. I intended to do only the bathroom (whole tiles only) but was able to move a little faster than I thought I would and was able to get a dozen pieces in the closet as well. Today if I'm lucky I'll be able to get that entire area done minus the far side of the water closet since I can't walk on drying tile until the next day. Right now it looks like this.

Love the tile!

Looking good.

Is that a natural stone or some type of porcelain?

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Looking good.

Is that a natural stone or some type of porcelain?

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It's Daltile porcelain - CN91-Steel Structure in 20x20. Quality was much better than expected, it's extremely consistent in terms of size and flatness. I can't detect any cupping whatsoever, and the quality is probably why I've been able to move so fast. The lippage and size issues I've fought with in other installs haven't been a factor here.

We used 18" daltile porcelain in our current house and we are still very happy 5 years later.

I'm familiar with the regular blue spacers you used, but what are the yellow/white thingys? What's their purpose?

They're to prevent lippage. It's called LASH, Home Depot sells it. Tuscan Leveling System is the other big one, but since this is the first job I've done in 6 years where it was needed it's hard to justify the cost of the gun. If your tile is straight it works really well.

Floor tile is nearly done. There are a few small pieces that need to go in, plus the far side of the water closet but that's about it. I'll be able to finish everything up after work except for the small row against the master bedroom because I need to wood transition piece to figure out where to stop the tile.If I go too far I'll have to trim the doors to the bedroom and I'd rather not do that.

This afternoon the gameplan is to order all the fixtures for the half bath, wrap up the flooring, get the closet and WC doors in and grout all areas that are ready. I also need to figure out how to exhaust the dryer sometime soon because that and hooking the wiring up at the panel are all that's holding me back from finally relocating them indoors. I'm going to be running a metal duct behind the washer and dryer and straight out the exterior wall to the left. That has "fun" written all over it.

Are you ducting your dryer through brick?

Yes, the house has a brick veneer. I already have a brick hole saw ready to go. The pipe can't go up or through the wall because of framing and utilities in there. Can't go down because of plumbing. The only way to go is to the left towards the window, but it should be an efficient vent. It'll be about 4' long, no turns and made from rigid ducting.